The pattern of violence in occupied Palestine and Israel is all too familiar. Every time there are diplomatic moves toward peace, they are hijacked by a wave of bombs and bloodshed carried out by the extremists of both sides. It has happened again, and the question is: Will it kill off the US-led road map to peace?

Almost everyone with an interest in the issue has quickly responded to the violence by saying that it must not be allowed to destroy the chance of peace, that there is no option but to continue with the road map. That makes sense. But emotion, not reason, has always been the guiding force in the Palestinians-Israeli problem. The demands for revenge and threats of further attacks being screamed yesterday by both sides could sweep the process into the sea regardless of what the rest of the world wants.

Washington will have to be very determined if the road map is to survive. That determination must include ordering the Israelis to stop their policy of assassination. Did Sharon set out specifically to sabotage the peace process by ordering the assassination of the Hamas leader? It looks highly likely. No one believes that his ostensible support for the US-backed road map is genuine. Vigorous supporter that he is of new settlements and bitter opponent of a Palestinian state, it is impossible to believe that Sharon has suddenly changed. He has gone along with it because he has to, because after the Iraq war, George Bush needs to placate Arab opinion. Sharon therefore has the motive for trying to sabotage the peace process.

He had the opportunity as well. It is impossible to say whether the suicide bomb in Jerusalem on Wednesday would have taken place had the Israelis not tried to assassinate Hamas’ political leader, Abdul Aziz Al-Rantissi; probably some such attack would have happened; like Sharon, Hamas wants to destroy the road map. Nonetheless, the Israelis know that Palestinian militants always mount revenge attacks in response to assassination attempts. When Sharon gave the order to kill Rantissi, he knew that there would be a suicide bomb in response. The fact that the Israelis were braced for one on Wednesday is proof of that. By provoking it, Sharon is as much to blame for the 16 deaths in the Jerusalem bus bomb as Hamas or anyone else.

It is encouraging that George Bush has said that the peace process must go forward, just as it is encouraging that he has condemned Israel’s assassination bids. But that is not enough. Israel has twisted the road map into a demand that the Palestinians end violence and the US has gone along with it. As a result, Sharon thinks he has a green light for the destruction of Hamas. Washington had better disabuse him of that view — and fast.